Cooperation
by LanaKrios
Summary: A familiar enemy forces two organizations to work together. The Avengers accept a new teammate familiar with the new enemy to help them defeat him. They have to learn to work with this new teammate to take down this threat before his plans come to fruition. Post-Movie Avengers universe. OFC Introduced, ex X-Men member.
1. What Do They Want With Us?

**A/N: **Hello! You guys can call me Leia. This will be my first ever Avengers fanfiction! This is post-movie Avengers universe, by the way, and will include an OFC of mine, Leslie Adams. Her past, powers, and the like will be described later on in the fic [She is 36. She will most likely reveal her age regardless, but just in case she doesn't, now you know.]. I have the major plot lines already mapped out and waiting for me to write them. I just decided to go ahead and submit the introductory chapter to see how interested people might be in this story.

This will be categorized as action/adventure and drama until later chapters when romance may be involved. The same will go for the rating. Once the content becomes inappropriate for younger audiences, I will change the rating accordingly.

Enjoy the introduction to Leslie Adams! And please, criticism, reviews, and ideas are most definitely welcome!

**Disclaimer**: If you recognize it, it doesn't belong to me!

* * *

-Unauthorized Personnel Accessing Files-

The computer in front of Charles Xavier flashed red and alerted him to the hacking. Intrigued, he sat back and watched which files the intruder was after. Once the files of his students began flashing in front of him he reached over to his keyboard and began to interrupt the hacker's attempts.

His fingers tapped in the controls for the disconnection and he raised a brow when S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logo flashed on the screen quickly before the computer shut itself down. "Curious." He breathed before sitting back into his chair and pressing a button for the intercom. "Professor Adams? I need to speak to you in my office, please." He released the button and his eyes glanced back over to the now black computer screen. "What does S.H.I.E.L.D. want with our databases?" He mused to himself.

* * *

"Keep your chin down, your arms closer to your body, like this." A dark-haired woman stepped forward and corrected the young man's fighting stance. "See? Much more comfortable." Her dark blue eyes wrinkled around the edges as she smiled and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Now, let's see how your punches improve, Joshua." She gave him a nod and the young man flung himself towards her, his fists flying.

The older woman dodged his advances quickly, smiling warmly as his fists missed her torso. The gymnasium's air-conditioning did nothing for the sweat the two were working up with their spar. Her black tank top and sports bra were absorbing the sweat from her body and poor Joshua had to deal with his sweat as it forced his grey t-shirt to cling to his body, distracting him slightly.

"C'mon! You've got this! Hit me!" she encouraged before dropping to the floor to dodge a well placed punch from Joshua. "I've got beginners who do better!" she taunted, knowing full well that her student was competitive. Hopefully this will get him mad enough to stop worrying about hitting his professor. She stood while Joshua hesitated because of her taunt, no doubt thinking of a comeback. She wiped her grey sweats quickly before taking her stance back up. "C'mon, Joshua. Think of the kids who could kick your butt." She grinned.

"Not cool, Miss Leslie!" he roared before lunging himself forward and began to really fight her.

She smirked as she blocked his fists, feeling a twinge of pain each time they connected with her forearms. "Excellent!" she quipped quickly before blocking his next punch with her open palm and signaled for a break.

"You were right, Professor, that felt much better." Joshua grinned, no doubt pleased of his progress.

Leslie nodded and gave him a quick thumbs up before facing her class. "Fighting like this depends on both offense and defense," before she could continue the intercom buzzed, signaling a message.

Xavier's voice echoed through the gym and Leslie relaxed her stance and turned to the class. "Dismissed." She nodded and waited for the gym to empty before walking through the door and heading towards Charles' office.

* * *

Charles looked towards the door when he heard it click open. "Ah, good to see you Leslie." He smiled warmly before motioning to the seats before him. "There's been a security breach in our private files from none other than S.H.I.E.L.D." he stated, getting straight to business.

Leslie raised her eyebrow before leaning forward, curious. "Which files?" Xavier's look turned dark with worry and she knew exactly which files he meant. "The children's?" She paused trying to make sense of the situation. "Wait, why their files? We have adults more capable." She questioned quickly, concerned for the well-being of her students.

The older man stippled his fingers over his lap and shook his head slowly. "I honestly do not know why they were looking into the children's files, but I have to ask you to figure this out." He paused and shot her a serious glance. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is, from what I know, usually interested in global threats. I do not see how the children would be considered threats, but you must contact the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, and deal with this situation."

Her eyes widened momentarily before she sat straight up. "Wait, wouldn't Scott be better? Or Logan! He could definitely do better with the threatening." She replied, astounded that a task such as this would be left to her. "I mean, I teach, mostly. I rarely go off to fight with the guys…"

Charles interrupted her, "Because, I believe S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking for someone to help them fight against a new threat. If that is the case, then we need to let them know that our students are off limits until they can decide for themselves. If they need help, then you are the logical choice, Leslie." He paused to take in her still shocked expression. "You work well on a team, and can adapt quickly to new environments. If this is a serious situation, Leslie, like the one in Manhattan with the alien forces, then they will need help, and you are the prime candidate to tie the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. together."

Leslie shook her head. "You mean X-Men and the Avengers." When he simply nodded at her she sighed softly. "You wanted this in the long run, didn't you?"

Xavier chuckled, glad to see that she was still as sharp as ever, "Yes. The Avengers are a phenomenal group. They are tasked with protecting the world against major threats. Having someone with your talents and training both physically and intellectually would benefit the group greatly." His smile faded quickly and his expression took a more serious tone. "Erik's escaped, Leslie." Her astonishment swept across her face quickly before she policed it away. "I believe he is the reason why S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking for help from mutants."

Leslie looked down at her hands as they lay in her lap. She remembered fighting with Erik Lensherr, or Magneto as he calls himself, a few years ago. It seemed as if his brand of crazy never really wore off. She sighed and brought her eyes back up to Charles Xavier. "Tell me what to do and I'll pack my things." She stated coolly.

He smiled before pushing his chair around his desk and next to her. "First off, you need to get into contact with Director Fury. I believe I know just the person to help you get that far." He placed a hand over hers and gave it a light squeeze. "I know you'll do great, Professor Leslie Adams."

She grinned and squeezed his hand in return. "Thanks, Charles." She released his hand and stood before walking towards his door. "Who's the person?" she turned and asked before opening the door in front of her.

"Tony Stark. You'll find him at Stark Tower in Manhattan. Good luck."

Leslie smiled and thanked him before opening the door and passing through it.

* * *

**A/N: **Aaand CUT! That's Leslie's introduction, guys. I hope you enjoyed the read, and I apologize for the lack of Avengers in the intro. They will make a major appearance in the rest of the chapters.

Also, I will have artwork of Leslie Adams sooner or later. I just need to finish a few other projects first. I will let you guys know when artwork is available.

Betas are always welcome! If you wish to volunteer as my Beta let me know and I'll contact you further!


	2. She's a Tricky One

**A/N: **So, the intro to this story did much better than I planned! Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! And the favorites and alerts and all that jazz.

And to answer one anonymous review, I don't think I will pair Leslie up with Tony. But, there's no real way to know that until I get this story rolling so, maybe!

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, I don't own it. Yup.

* * *

"Sir, there is an Agent Adams with S.H.I.E.L.D. downstairs waiting to speak with you."

"Busy, JARVIS." Tony Stark's voice echoed as he tinkered with part of his new Iron Man suit.

"She says she's here about the Avengers initiative, sir." Tony's head perked up and he shot a glance to Bruce on the other side of the lab.

Bruce raised an eyebrow but shook his head slowly. "Maybe the phones went down." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Tony stood up straight and paced his way towards Bruce. "Or, something's up." He ran his fingers over his immaculately trimmed goatee, "Hmm, but Fury knows he can just alert me here." He stated pointing towards all the screens in his lab.

Dr. Banner lifted his head and looked towards Tony. "You know Fury, if he needs to talk to you, he'll find any way to get you to listen." Bruce sounded a little angry as he went back to his experiment.

"If that was the case, then why wouldn't he come down here himself? Why is he sending an Agent." He paused and tapped his temple, "Wait! What if she's his replacement?" he shook his head. "That would be cruel to Coulson."

Bruce chuckled and Tony continued. "But, Fury would need another Agent like Coulson so that's a possibility."

"If she's a replacement, it would explain why she's here, I guess." He shrugged. "Maybe she was told to meet us or something."

Tony smirked, "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. Send her up, JARVIS."

* * *

Leslie took a deep breath before stepping in to the elevator that would take her to see Tony Stark. "I can't believe that worked." She whispered to herself while trying to prevent herself from pumping her fist in victory.

Charles never really explained to her how she would get in contact with Tony Stark, but once she arrived at her hotel a few blocks away from Stark Tower she was able to think on a plan. She went to a local store and found a crisp charcoal grey pantsuit with a white blouse and got them tailored for her. It took a few days for the suit to get tailored, but that only gave her time to sit and think of a plan that would get her into Stark Tower and one step closer to talking to Fury.

She smiled as the elevator began to slow and slipped a Bluetooth device over her left ear quickly, just another prop. Once the doors slid open she stepped through, making purposeful and confident steps forward until she was standing before the man she knew as Tony Stark. There was a familiar man in the laboratory with him, but she wasn't sure who he was exactly so she focused on Stark. "Mr. Stark, thank you for allowing me to come up here." She pushed her hand in front of her for a handshake and her smile faltered when Tony backed up and raised his hands.

"Yeah, I don't do handshakes, Agent." He seethed before turning to the other man in the room. "Dr. Banner loves them, though."

Banner, Bruce Banner! That's why he looked familiar. She smiled at the shaggy-haired man on the other side of the laboratory. "Dr. Banner, nice to meet you." She stated coolly before crossing the floor and holding her hand out to him instead.

"Yeah, thanks, you too, I guess." He said before wrapping his hand around hers and giving it a quick shake.

Leslie released his hand with a warm smile and turned to place herself in the middle of the two men. "Nick Fury told me to come meet the team. I figured there would be more of you." She stated, turning to Stark.

"Heh, you've probably met two of us already if you're with S.H.I.E.L.D. Hawkeye and Black Widow? The Capsicles' somewhere around North America, I think." Stark rambled.

"That's disappointing." Leslie nodded and motioned towards one of the screens in Tony's lab. "Fury also had something he wanted to brief you on. I guess while we're all here we could connect to the big guy himself and get this over with?"

Tony shot a suspicious glance at Bruce. Bruce only shrugged, "Couldn't hurt."

"JARVIS, get Fury on the line." Tony commanded, his gaze not leaving the Agent's back.

"Right away, sir."

The screen in front of Leslie flashed with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s logo for a moment before an angry man with an eye patch glared at her through the glass. "Mr. Stark, who is this and why are you bothering me right now?"

She smiled as she heard Tony cross the floor, "You don't know her? She's an agent!" He turned to Bruce for help, "Right?"

"Director Fury, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Professor Leslie Adams. I am a representative of Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?" Fury made no move to speak.

Bruce smiled a little and looked to Tony, "Oh, she's a tricky one." He chuckled a little when he saw Tony standing behind the woman with his mouth gaping open. He obviously didn't see that coming. Neither did Bruce, but he at least conducted himself better.

Leslie began to speak with her hands, her Agent persona all but forgotten as she continued her speech. "I'm here because of a breach in security at the school. We have reason to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. was behind it. Someone was looking through the files of our students, and that is unacceptable, Director Fury." She paused and crossed her arms over her chest. "Sir, if you needed help, we have adults in that facility much more capable than children." She stated coldly.

Director Fury leaned further back into his chair and the slightest upturn to the corners of his lips was barely visible. "You mean the X-Men, Professor?" his voice was smooth and cool, but promised a world of pain if Leslie did this the wrong way.

"I mean me. We cannot offer you all of the X-Men, Director, but I was volunteered to help you with this new threat." She smiled softly, starting to feel the pressure of his intense gaze.

Tony closed his gaping maw and raised a finger to the air. "'Scuse me, did you say X-Men? They're real? As in, mutants and all that?" he questioned. Everyone's heard stories of the X-Men, but no one was ever really able to prove that they really existed, let alone where their base was. And now, Tony was looking at a member.

Fury ignored Stark and stared the woman down. "I'm going to need your files, Professor Adams. And a secure channel to reach Charles Xavier." He stated.

Leslie fished a small flash drive from her coat pocket and waved it in front of her slowly. "All right here."

The Director nodded curtly, "This doesn't make you part of the team, Professor. Upload those files to Stark's computer and he will send them to me. I will discuss this merger with Xavier and I will decide whether or not you will be an asset, or a hindrance." He paused and looked at the other two in the room. "Once I've decided, I will send Agents Barton and Romanoff to gather you for a briefing." His eye shot to Leslie. "Or to send you home." And before anyone could protest the screen went black and Leslie could see the look Stark was giving her behind her back. She turned around and faced the man and raised a brow when he smirked.

"So, you're a mutant? What's your power?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Leslie chuckled before approaching him. "I have X-Ray vision, Mr. Stark. I can see your underwear." She joked and glanced at his jeans. "Nice choice."

Tony looked baffled. He uncrossed his arms and looked like he was torn between covering his front and fleeing. Bruce chuckled from his seat behind a table, "My, she is tricky." He mused quietly.

Adams laughed brightly, her eyes wrinkling up as she tried to stop herself from making a fool of herself. "I'm joking, Mr. Stark." She took a cleansing breath and wiped the moisture from her eyes. "And everyone seems to fall for that one."

"Call me Tony; Mr. Stark makes me sound old." He grinned and pointed at her. "And that was pretty good, Sly. You had me worried there for a minute."

She smiled and nodded towards the man. "Thank you very much. And you can call me Leslie." She turned to Bruce and grinned. "You too, Dr. Banner."

The doctor nodded, "Bruce."

Leslie smiled at him, "Bruce."

"So, Professor? Professor of what?" Tony smirked as he walked back to the table with the chest piece to his new Iron Man suit.

"Many things, mainly engineering at the school. I also teach beginners to moderate classes in martial arts." She grinned.

Bruce looked back towards Leslie. "You have a degree in engineering?"

Leslie smiled warmly and nodded. Tony cleared his throat to get her attention. "You still didn't tell us your power?"

She smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, I can manipulate energy." She stated. "Nothing too fancy, mainly just raising shields and small energy blasts." She paused and chuckled softly when Tony's face lit up and Bruce looked intrigued. "I can sense the molecules in my body, and around me. I can manipulate them and force them to come together in a solid form, hence the shields. I can also form them into small concentrated blasts of energy."

"That sounds draining." Bruce observed.

Leslie nodded. "It can be, I have to be careful not to overuse my powers or I'll drain my energy. I can fight and use weapons when I get too tired or am trying to conserve my energy." She described. "I can also manipulate the energy that my teammates or enemies use in combat."

Tony let out a low whistle. "That can be useful."

She smiled, "Useful enough to let me be on the team, I hope."

* * *

**A/N: **I think I got too excited about getting this second chapter out, and getting through some of this dialogue that I cheated on some of the descriptions. Hopefully, it's not too distracting. Let me know what you guys think!


	3. Judgement

**A/N:** Hey guys! I apologize for the long wait and short chapter! My week was a bit hectic what with the 4th and a hospital visit for my dad. But! I was able to bang this out and get it to you guys. It's relatively uneventful, mainly it's just giving you guys more info about Leslie.

And thank you guys for such wonderful reviews!

**Disclaimer: **I only own Leslie!

* * *

"Well, that went better than planned." Agent Maria Hill commented from her place in front of Director Fury and his console. She had her arms cross over her chest and a small smirk graced her lips. "That was planned, wasn't it?"

"I only planned to look through the school's databases and make sure they knew it was S.H.I.E.L.D., they did the rest themselves." He smirked from his chair, his hands hanging in his lap as he waited for Leslie Adams' files to transfer to his console.

Hill's smirk faded and her arms fell to her sides. "But, do you actually want _her _to be a part of the Avengers Initiative?" she paused. "What's her mutation, anyways? Could it be useful?"

Director Fury gave no answer. His smirk only widened when his console made a small beep, signaling that her files had completed the transfer. He wasted no time in leaning forward in his chair and opening the files. A serious-faced Leslie Adams stared back at him on the console. Her dark brunette hair tied back from her face in a tight, high bun. "Hm. Leslie Adams, alias Atom," He paused for a second to allow a small chuckle escape his lips. "36, 5'7", 140 pounds, mostly muscle it seems." Fury looked up at Agent Hill, already having the next part memorized. "Mutation is energy manipulation."

Agent Hill frowned, causing her brows to come closer together. "That could have its uses, I guess." She stated, skeptical that this woman would be of any use at all to the Avenger Initiative.

"Says here she was sent to Xavier's school at age 12, only to be adopted by Charles and the school two years later." He flipped through to the next page full of information on this woman. "She completed the courses at the school and graduated; went to a nice engineering school right after graduation. She has a degree in engineering, too. Says here she teaches the students at the school. Explains why she introduced herself as Professor, then." Director Fury flipped to the next page of the files which included two videos. Curious, he tapped on the top video and was greeted with an aerial view of some kind of battlefield. He could see the brunette, Leslie, near the middle of the screen.

Maria's curiosity got the best of her and she crossed the floor to stand next to Fury so she could have a better view of the video. The woman in the video was agile, not as agile as Natasha, but still able to flow through the battlefield. She was decent with firearms and small knives, as well. Maria was concerned at first; she expected 'Atom' to use more of her powers than she was.

Director Fury watched intently as the woman sped through the enemy forces, throwing well placed punches and kicks and evading her enemy's quickly. He smirked, slightly impressed with her abilities. His smirk only deepened when he saw a subtle orange glow emanate from her hands and form a shield slightly bigger than her body. He watched as Atom used her shield to keep a larger man from charging into her headfirst.

"That's impressive." Maria commented as the woman in the video pushed the larger man back a few steps. The two stayed locked like that for a few seconds before Leslie flung her hand over the shield to fire off a smaller energy blast into the man's torso. Atom grinned as she took the opportunity to shove her energy shield about an inch into the dirt and used it to vault onto the larger man's shoulders. Her face went calm as she fired another energy blast into the man's face, causing him to drop to the ground as Atom stood and ran to her next target.

"Yes it is, Agent." Director Fury smirked happily before beginning the second video. This one was much shorter, mainly showing her work with a fellow X-Men teammate. Atom would use this teammate's laser as they shot from his visor to her advantage. She would catch the loose lasers in her hand and deflect them towards an enemy too close to her. "She could be useful."

Maria gave Fury a skeptical look, "Even on the team?"

Fury nodded, "Maybe. We're going to read through her psychological profile and more through her past before we decide. Then we need to contact Charles Xavier." He commanded as he brought Leslie's files back to his console.

* * *

Leslie had crossed the room of Tony Stark's laboratory, her coat folded neatly over her left arm. Her white button down blouse was pulled from her trousers and wrinkly towards the bottom. "What are you guys working on, if you don't mind me asking?" she smiled as she laid her coat across an empty table. "I mean, Bruce, you look tired as hell." She remarked before getting onto one of the stools.

At the mention of his name, Bruce looked up from his work, "Oh, I'm just working on understanding something about my DNA." He rattled off looking a little bashful about him not looking so great.

Tony grinned wide, "I'm making the arc reactor imbedded into my chest work with the blasters on my suit so they'll be more efficient. You know, to provide the best ass kicking experience." He laughed at his own humor. "Show me your shield." He ordered out of the blue.

Leslie turned to face him and scoffed, "right here, right now? You're joking. Please be joking." Her shock was evident on her face. "No, absolutely not! That takes energy! And thanks to having to contact Fury I missed my meal!" her face got a little more red the more she spoke. "I don't want to risk hurting myself by trying to impress you. You're just going to have to wait." She smiled triumphantly.

Tony shrugged, a quiet "Suit yourself," barely crossing his lips.

The three of them sat in an awkward silence for a while longer; Leslie tried to keep herself from asking stupid questions and hovering over the men as they worked.

Her feet had barely began to tap out a soft rhythm when Tony's A.I. announced guests. "Sir, S.H.I.E.L.D. has arrived on the roof. Agents Romanoff and Barton are making their way down to your laboratory. Should I allow them entry?"

"Go for it, they're here for her anyways." He motioned towards Leslie and she shot him an angry glance.

"Cute," She whispered, crossing her arms over her chest. She was anxious either way.


	4. The Enemy

**A/N: **And chapter four! This one is much longer than the last three but, I had to include a lot more in this chapter than I have in the previous ones. I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Also, I updated my profile here on . It now includes my tumblr! I will be drawing Leslie sometime soon and I'll be uploading those pictures to tumblr. If a decent group of you start following me on there, I'll drop hints in between chapters for you. :D

**Disclaimer: **Leslie's mine. So is the plot, actually. But I'm mainly just playing with things and moving them around. SO If you recognize it, it's not mine.

* * *

"Wait, how did some Professor trick Tony into getting her into contact with Fury?" Clint Barton's dirty blond hair was a messy and a little too long for his tastes. Natasha and he just returned from their last mission when Fury approached them about a covert pickup at Stark Tower for a Professor Leslie Adams. Apparently this woman was tricky, to say the least, but Fury would not give the duo too much information. He said something about' All will be known in due time.' Always shady, but neither of them could argue with him.

Natasha walked through the door off of the roof and shot back, "She posed as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, told him she was sent to meet the Avengers. Also told him to make a call to Fury." She shook her head. "Leave it to Stark to compromise the Avenger Initiative because of some woman." The last sentence came out a little colder than Clint believed she wanted it to be. Natasha wasn't Tony's biggest fan, sure, but Clint knew the playboy grew on her at least a little bit since she first met him.

The two of them stepped over the threshold and into an elevator; Natasha kept Clint from pushing at all the buttons so they could find which floor Stark was on. "JARVIS, we're here for Stark, Banner, and Adams." She stated.

"One moment, Agent Romanoff." The AI paused briefly and the elevator lurched downwards without another word.

Clint beamed at Natasha. "I almost forgot about that. Still think it's pretty cool." Natasha shook her head slowly and crossed her arms underneath her breasts.

"Let's just get this over with. I want to know how she knows so much about us."

* * *

"I still don't believe you can do all that with energy, Professor Adams." Tony Stark had paused his tinkering with his suit and became severely interested about something on his phone. "Mutation aside, how is it even possible?"

Leslie fidgeted slightly on the stool she sat on. She didn't feel like going into complete detail about her powers until she was accepted as a team member. "It's possible. That's a nice phone, Tony." She said sharply. She was not here as a Professor and she wished Tony would start calling her Leslie again. He must not want to become too friendly with her until she was accepted. She shot a pleading look over to Bruce; he was being much nicer to her at the moment than Tony was. He still called her by her name.

Bruce smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly? I'm a little intrigued by it, too, Leslie." He at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Oh, fine then." She huffed as she slid from the stool and walked over towards Tony. "But, I'm not going to take energy from my body at the moment." She stated as she waved her left hand over the screen of Tony's fancy phone. She grinned slightly when he looked up at her in anger, phone dead in his hands.

Tony's angered expression subsided when he realized that Leslie was holding a plum-sized ball of bright orange energy in the hand that swiped over his phone. "Remarkable." He whispered and leaned closer to the little energy ball. "But, not a shield." He stated.

"If I had more energy to work with, it would be. I just took the energy your phone was emitting." She grinned triumphantly and turned to Bruce, making sure he was able to see it.

"That's fascinating." Bruce had slipped his wire glasses from his face and was walking towards Leslie, keeping his eyes focused on the energy. "How much control do you have over it?"

Leslie shrugged softly and pushed the energy back into Tony's phone; Tony grinned when it began to boot itself up. "I've been training with these powers for many years now. That's the beauty of Xavier's school. Not only do we give these young mutants a proper education, we allow them to train with their abilities whenever they wish." She glanced towards the elevator whenever it dinged and smiled towards Bruce. "Every mutation can be controlled to some extent, even if you don't believe so early on."

Bruce shook his head slowly and whispered, "I wish that were true, Leslie," before dropping the subject and watching as Tony greeted the two stepping off the elevator.

* * *

When the elevator doors opened to the laboratory Clint and Natasha were greeted with the three people separating quickly, Tony's signature smirk donned his face and he approached the two with open arms. "Good to see you two are back!" he pointed a finger towards Natasha "And still as grumpy as ever."

Natasha smirked and headed towards the female in the room. "Yes. We're here to take you all to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Follow me." She said sternly and motioned for Professor Adams to walk in front of her.

Bruce and Tony decided to walk beside the Professor, Clint quirked his eyebrow amusedly before taking his place beside Natasha. The woman was only an inch or so taller than Tony, now that he got a good look of them beside each other, her black hair looked like it could be long if she released it from her tight bun. Clint's eyes traveled farther down her back curiously, he only got a split second look at her rear before Natasha elbowed him and he turned to her and let out a nervous laugh, "What? I was conducting an experiment."

The group of five rode the elevator to the roof in silence and boarded the quinjet the two agents brought with them. Natasha and Clint took their places as pilot and co-pilot and within minutes of the others being strapped into their seats, they took off towards S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

* * *

The walls of the underground bunker were a light grey, people in skin tight black uniforms were making themselves busy in the halls, and Leslie was having a hard time absorbing what was going on around her. The lights were terribly bright and pure, and the commotion in the hallways was distracting. If it wasn't for Bruce on her left gently guiding her into turns she would have kept walking straight and gotten lost. "Are we still in New York?" she found herself asking no one in particular.

"Yes. If Director Fury wishes you to know exactly where, he will tell you." Agent Romanoff answered and took a left turn into a large room with a circular table in the middle. Leslie could see dark screens on one wall, and the more she looked at the table top she could tell that they each had individual screens at each seat.

Leslie was too occupied by observing her surroundings to notice a tall, blonde gentleman rising to his feet in order to greet her. "Hello, I'm Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." He had his arm extended for a handshake and Leslie reached for it.

"You must be Captain America, pleasure's all mine, Captain." She smiled, Steve's grip wasn't as strong as she would have expected; he must not have wanted to hurt her on accident or anything. She didn't give it a second thought and followed suit as the others began to take their seats. Natasha and Clint sat on the opposite side of the table from Leslie, who was seated in between Bruce and Tony; Steve sat in the middle of both small groups, directly in front of where she suspected Director Fury would be standing.

Leslie looked across the table to Natasha and Clint nervously, "So, uh, you must not want to trust me, yet." She smiled a little when Clint grinned.

"Not exactly. We don't know much about you to be honest. All we know is that you were able to trick Stark into getting you into contact with Fury." Clint answered, Natasha gave a quick, cold glare to Tony and Leslie smirked.

"Didn't mean to get you into trouble, Tony." Tony smiled as Leslie whispered to him.

"I'm always in trouble. No biggie."

The room got incredibly still as the man from Tony's screen walked into the room, wearing the same scowl as before. Leslie smiled nervously; he didn't look too happy, her best guess was that she was either going to go to jail or back home really quickly. She relaxed into her chair a little, ready to deal with the consequences of her actions; as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. stayed away from their students her job was technically complete.

"You're all here today to say hello to the newest member of the Avengers Initiative." Leslie's eyes widened in cold shock; that was quick. Fury extended his hand towards her and gave the tiniest of grins. "Meet Atom." Leslie had to work hard to keep her eye roll unseen.

Beside her, Tony almost choked on his laughter. "No, seriously, Atom? You're Atom?" Her eyes narrowed at him and he raised his hands in surrender, "Hey, I like it! No worries, Sly."

Bruce smiled at the two, "I'm sensing a play on your last name _and _powers."

Leslie turned and smiled wide. "Hey, I'm not the one who chose it. But, yes, a friend at the school thought it would be hilarious to name the mutant, Adams, Atom." She began.

Clint intercepted the conversation quickly, "But what does that have to do with your powers?"

Director Fury cleared his throat. "I was going to get to that." He shot Stark a cold look and brought a screen behind him towards the group. "She's a mutant, as she just confessed, sent by the X-Men to help us with what could possibly be a global threat." The group at the table perked up at the mention of another global threat, Leslie just tried to bleed into the background, hoping they would be more worried about the threat than what she could possibly do. "But I'll get back to that momentarily." Damn, no dice. Fury tapped away at the large screen, bringing forward one video that Leslie recognized from the files she sent him earlier.

"Now, her mutation allows her to be aware of the molecules within her body and some around her. She can manipulate the moving molecules into energy and bend them to her will, as it seems." Leslie smiled sheepishly and nodded at the man. Fury let the video of her taking on a man much larger than herself play; the Avengers in the room watched every detail.

Tony gave a low whistle as the video ended, "So that's what your shields look like." He said playfully. Leslie shrugged her shoulders, happy that Tony was being a little friendlier to her now.

She risked a glance to the other Avengers around the table, Bruce seemed fascinated by her abilities, Clint was grinning like a madman, Natasha looked like she approved, and Steve looked like he was in deep thought.

"Her psych profile and previous work with her X-Men team have qualified her to be a good match for the Avengers Initiative." Fury continued, electing to ignore Stark's comment. "She is also familiar with the bad guy." The others perked at that statement, Leslie included; she was finally going to get more information on Magneto.

Director Fury slid his hand over the screen and an image of Erik Lensherr appeared before them. His cold, distant eyes sent a chill through Leslie's spine, one that Bruce did not miss. "This is Erik Lensherr, also known as Magneto, he is another mutant; one that has caused trouble for the X-Men multiple times." He continued before Steve interrupted.

"Excuse me, but if this Magneto usually causes trouble for the X-Men, why aren't they handling this?" He looked over to Leslie with apologetic eyes.

"Usually he goes after us personally. I think he has a vendetta against Charles, if you ask me. But, we haven't heard from him. I thought he was still in prison until a few days ago." Leslie answered and brought her attention back to Fury. "Actually, how did he escape? He was in a plastic facility!" her eyes burned with fright and the other Avengers eyed her strangely.

"When we received word of a criminal escape, I sent a few agents to check on the situation. They found nothing but melting ice and the remains of Lensherr's plastic prison." Director Fury stated. "We believe he's not working alone. He has been seen recruiting mutants to his 'cause'. We do not know what his cause will be yet, we haven't been able to listen in on his conversations with these mutants, but we will be on high alert concerning Mr. Lensherr."

Leslie groaned audibly. "Usually his cause is his belief that mutants surpass humans. He believes the world should be run by them. Basically, he just wants to make humans fear mutants." She shrugged, "He's done that pretty well so far, but we've been making sure that people know that this is just one mutant's wish, not all mutant's wish." She elaborated for Fury.

"What's his mutation, then? If we're gonna fight the guy, I want to know what he can do." Clint spoke up, looking straight at Leslie.

She waved her hand in front of her, "I'd say his mutation is crazy." Fury shot her a disapproving look and she sighed, "But, it's really his ability to control metal." She looked towards Steve and Tony. "All metal."

"That makes most of our weapons useless." Natasha glared at Leslie. "He has a major upper hand here."

Leslie looked to Fury, "I can help with that." When Fury nodded, she continued. "I helped design 'plastic' guns that can be as powerful and accurate as a regular gun." Natasha looked at her approvingly.

"Can you do that with arrowheads?" Clint looked around the room quickly, "Or Tony's suit? Hell, Captain's shield? This Magneto guy still has the upper hand!"

Leslie gave a rather large shrug, "Well, if Tony and Bruce will help me out, I bet we can figure out a solution to at least the arrowheads." She smiled when the both of them nodded in approval. "But, Tony's suit probably wouldn't work at all if it was made from some sort of plastic. And I doubt Steve's shield would be as useful, either."

"Then what do you suggest we do, ma'am?" Steve requested.

"Call me Leslie." She began. "And I can help with that, too. It just will be a little bit more difficult for me." The Avengers all looked curious and she smiled. "Erik can't sense metal if it is encased in one of my shields. The energy I use to make them disrupts his 'magnetic' field and he can't control it."

"And that helps us how?" Leslie smiled at Tony.

"Glad you asked!" She could almost feel Fury's anger as she dawdled about. "If you allow me to, Tony, I can encase you and your suit in one of my shields. Only drawback being, since you fly around really fast, it would be easier for me to concentrate on that shield if I was close to you. We can work out those details later." She turned to Steve. "I may be able to shield your shield as well, though don't blame me if I'm riding with Tony and it sputters out. My concentration may be weary after a while. Just try not to get too close to Erik if you don't see an orange shield around it." Steve nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you are all getting along." Fury interrupted. "If we learn anything new we will call for another meeting. For now, I want you all to go back to Stark tower and stick together." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Maybe this time around you'll start out as a team?"

Leslie frowned slightly, "I'll have to get my things from my hotel room, but I can work with that."

Tony grinned, "Well, I only have rooms built for the six of us. I have a couple of extra rooms on the 'Avenger' floor that you can use. But, they may not be as nice as our rooms."

Leslie looked around confused, he had said six, but besides her, there were only five of them in the room. "Is Fury coming, too?"

Bruce chuckled, "Thor is our sixth." He shot a look to Tony, "But, he's not in town."

Director Fury dismissed the group. Clint, Natasha, and Steve left to grab their bags leaving Tony, Bruce, and Leslie near the quinjet ready to leave. "I thought you said Steve was somewhere in North America, Tony." Leslie faced Tony and frowned.

He clapped a hand on her shoulder and smiled, "Technically I was right. He must have been informed of all this earlier."

Leslie pushed him away playfully and nodded. The trio waited for the others to arrive back at the quinjet.

* * *

**A/N: **I decided to leave this chapter here! The next chapter will no doubt start at Stark Tower and all that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Anyone wanna guess who Magneto's friend is? The one that helped him escape? I'll give you a hint. He's not from _Midgard! _


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